The present invention relates to an apparatus and system for data processing and, more specifically, data processing as it relates to transportation management. The present invention is illustrated by way of an example with regard to an apparatus and method capable of remotely transmitting and receiving information, especially information relevant to fleet management such as delivery locations and times. But it will be recognized that the invention has a wider range of applicability. Merely by way of example, the invention can be applied to other types of transportation, mapping, information management, and the like.
As the world becomes more industrialized and populated, transportation requirements also increase rapidly. In particular, the number of vehicles such as automobiles, trucks, vans, and the like on typical city highways has increased to levels such that traffic jams are now a way of life for a typical driver using these highways as a means for travel. In fact, some of these highways are so constricted that anyone using them can experience significant delays often unexpectedly due to problems such as accidents, road construction, and others. These problems also exist on other transportation ways such as our city streets, airways, and waterways. Accordingly, it is often difficult to predict with any accuracy the location of a vehicle using these transportation ways.
Cities and governments have attempted to resolve some of these problems by adding more transportation infrastructure in highly populated areas. This infrastructure often comes in the form of improved roads or highways, train systems, and the like. Unfortunately, roads, highways, and train systems are often difficult to build in highly populated areas and are generally extremely expensive and time consuming to build. In most cases, construction used to provide this additional infrastructure often causes even more traffic congestion and other problems.
Based upon this state of the transportation infrastructure in most industrialized countries, it is often difficult for a company involved in the courier or delivery business to accurately track its vehicles and deliveries. The problems mentioned above severely limit the predictability for a fleet manager to track vehicles in its fleet for the pick-up and delivery of information, packages, and people. Moreover, it is desirable but difficult to keep the fleet manager up-to-date about the status of members of the fleet and to update the fleet members with information from the manager.
Industry also has attempted to resolve some of these problems. For instance, some companies are now providing their couriers with cellular phones and radios so that a dispatcher can communicate with them. Other companies retrofit their vehicles with navigational systems such as LORAN or a global positioning system (GPS) to determine vehicle location. Still, other companies are using maps and GPS to track vehicle location by dispatchers at a central office terminal.
One such company is Mobile Information Systems, Inc. ("Mobile Information Systems"), assignee of the present application, which pioneered a technique for implementing easy-to-read maps for tracking vehicle location on a display or workstation at the central office terminal or any other terminal. In particular, Mobile Information Systems implemented one of the first techniques for using a raster-type map and vector data for referencing vehicle location. The raster-type map used on a display had features that were easy-to-read for a dispatcher or user. These features were generally geographical in nature and were easier to reference than the maps predominantly made using stick-type representations of geographical features. The techniques used by Mobile Information Systems have partly overcome some of the daily problems faced by a fleet manager or the like. It would, however, be desirable to develop other techniques for integrating further aspects of fleet management.
Based upon the above, it would be desirable to develop a device for improving a user's ability to create and receive data to help with the predictability, efficiency, and accuracy of task management such as fleet management or tracking any object that can be transported into our roadways, highways, waterways, airways, and the like.